>> i should not be on stage. when you should be seeing -- i am used to the stage but not. that is who should be on stage. i am an animator. i am with picks are animation studios. in some ways, i felt comfortable being on stayed behind my computer. it is weird for me to be on the microphone. i have a lot of work to do but i am here to explain that, i'll come to that later. i wanted knowledge some of our special guests this morning. first off, i have some flashcards.

how wanted acknowledged and the asian art museum director jay tsu. when i think of jay hsu, i think, aka dr. j. he is master of the universe. also, i never thought had -- would have the opportunity to introduce the mayor of san francisco, mayor ed lee. i just a to introduce the mayor. that is awesome. we also have a bunch of other special guests today. i would also like to introduce david chiu, president of the board of supervisors.

thank you for coming. the mayor does not come along. he has a policy. supervisor carmen chu is also with us. we are also lucky enough to have supervisor mark farrell as well. maybe he is having a pastry or something. there is a lot of traffic between here and city hall. that is a bad joke, i know. we also have supervisor eric mar here with us this morning. all the supervisors are sitting together. we are also lucky enough to have the chief of protocol for the city of san francisco charlotte schultz. last but not least, we have tony sun, chair of the asian arts

commission. that's good started this morning. i am going to get off the stage and and things off over to jay hsu. he is going to tell us a little bit more about what we're doing today. >> someone needs to hand me the remote. terrific. brand implementation is a journey. the asian art museum embarks on a new journey. to reinvent ourselves, to engage a broad audience. the broad audience is very much at the core of what we do here and who we are. why now, you ask? as the aging world influence

grows, so is understanding its culture. more than half of the global population lives in the asia. to look at our own san francisco bay area, one third of the population are of asian descent. also, a challenging economy offers us the opportunity to take advantage by being bold and taking risks. we need to increase our impact and by doing so, increasing revenue. also, a successful restructuring of our long-term debt. that took place earlier this year and has put the museum on sound financial footing. on that note, i would like to thank the city leaders for leading the effort and working with our newseum team in finding solutions. today, i am particularly happy to say, at this moment in history, we have an asian mayor,

asian president of the board of supervisors, and an asian commissioner for budget and finance. [applause] any successful brand always starts with a strong vision, and we do have a vision. with asia as our lands and aren't as our cornerstone, we start connections across cultures and for time. in other words, asia is our focus, but our per view is global. one single important word in our vision is connection. making connections. we particularly explore connections in two dimensions. we want to connect cultures within asia and also connect

culture is globally. asia and the rest of the world. the other dimension is connecting the past with the present and future. in other words, connecting the historic arts to the contemporary arts of today. for our visitors, we translate our vision into our brand promise, which i want all of you to remember when you leave the building. the past is never static. the past is full of potential for new discovery, new knowledge. our programs are to unlock the great potential of the past, to find a new perspective. to look at the past with today's perspective, today's questions, so that we can learn more from the past. in doing so, we want to inspire the creativity for our program,

the creativity that exists within every one of us, to create new conversations, new questions. awaken the past, inspire the next. in doing so, we want to appeal to our lovers and art newbies. in other words, the museum is for everyone. whether you are local or far away. no matter your interest is in asia or elsewhere in the world, everybody has a connection. we want to make those connections and discoveries. let me give you one example of how we have started to implement our brand and to realize our brand promise for our visitors. across all you will see an

exhibition of exquisite korean ceramics dating from the 15th and 16th century, as we all would display our works of art and the most beautiful of manners, so that our visitors can enjoy the beauty and style of those people. at the same time and, for the first time in our history, we have built a new contemporary dimension to the exhibition. the curator has included work from sample -- several contemporary caribbean artists, ranging from photography to installations, too surprising media that somebody may or may not realize, all of this that you see is made out of soap. this brings up a question, what is a sense of permanence say?

looking at the contemporary art enables us to reflect on the timeless pieces of the 15th and 16th century with new questions, new perspectives. likewise, looking at that contemporary art in the context of the traditional art, we can ask the question, how is art today? what inspires us about tradition? in other words, awaken and inspire. so we will do a lot more along these lines. in doing so, our focus has started to shift from art objects to an experience centered around art. art is at the core of who we are, but want to create a new engaging experience that allows

us to connect art to life, connecting to our individual needs. the branding is really about transforming the institution, how we do our business, but most importantly, how we serve our visitors. how we create a new experience, how we engage our individuals to have individualized experiences. one part of our brand identity is our visual identity. we want that to reflect what our brand is. particularly, three qualities. we want our visual identity to convey that, one, our brand offers a new perspective. second, we are forward and confident. the third, the asian art museum in bites all to engage. in other words, the asian art museum is for all people.

offering a new perspective that is bold and confident but inviting everyone to engage. now it is time to unveil at our new visual identity. may i invite the mayor and our board chair tony to join me in cutting the ribbon. >> wow. it is time. as these folks get in place, i am going to count down. we are all going to say asian altogether. get ready with your scissors. i am going to begin my countdown. 3, 2, 1. asian. wow. [applause]

>> now that the mayor and board chair has helped us through this point, may i invite them up for some pictures?

>> thank you, mr. mayor. thank you, tony. let me repeat once again the three qualities we want our visual identity to convey. a new perspective, bold and confident, and asian arts museum invites all to engage. as you may know, this inverted market is from a mathematical science known as a universal quantifier. we whaant everyone to know thate

are here to engage you. we want to awaken and inspire. let me show you a couple of examples of how you can use this. we have window treatment for everyone. and then we have a new visitor'' guide, a new membership material, a new look. you can take us with you. and also, out and about. i still strongly about this market because it is very versa tile. you can superimpose images from diverse cultures coming asian, not asian, and we can use this in a powerful way. imagine, we can even commissioned artists to do a rendition of this as a sculpture. and the possibilities. before i invite the marriage to

give our audience his thoughts, that also -- may also asked take some pictures please? >> mr. mayer, please.

>> good morning, everybody. i want to thank all of the supervisors, my posse for being here. thank you for the introduction. hall also want to give special thanks to tony and kiko for your leadership. p j from the commission is also here. we are a very special city, of course. as you know, charlotte and i have been working together for the last eight months, celebrating this wonderful diversity in the city as we will and in so many international visitors that come in. every opportunity we have, we market, but we also say, if you what a great experience, go to the asian. see what we have. it is one of the few cities to have its own asian art museum.

that is a wonderful reflection of our city's commitment to not only the history of the population and growth and ties to the far east, but also honors the diverse art we have in the city. so many museums are looking at how they can contribute to not only the residents here, but what i think the nation is on course to do, something that i know charlotte and i talk a lot about, that is promoting our international status, making sure that we have an art museum that appeals to the kids in the tenderloin, to the kids all over the city, to the families we have in the city, but also to be special to our international visitors. i think, n.j., your honor, creating -- i think, jay,

creating this and branding is a great thing. last year, there was a financial challenges that occurred all over the world. worldwide economic challenges. if the old models of how you depended on certain bonds or going to be challenged, well, of course they became a challenge to our museum. we got together with the city, the board of supervisors, with the leadership of david chiu, eric mar, got together with the board of directors and, of course, a big thank-you to ben rosenfield who helped us all to figure out with the mayor's office, how we could put together a real state of financial support and strength to make sure the that the asian could move forward. they responded.

not only with an agreement going forward, but with this idea of branding which came out of the number of ideas of how the nation can make sure it is appealing to an even broader audience, making sure that its wells, richness, not only in this place -- we have a lovely room like this for actual performances that are consistent with the asian culture. as you know, some 20,000 kids get invited to come through these halls to learn and see the exhibits. i am very excited about the next exhibit. i know the bali exhibit here will have international flavor. with this opening, with this brand name, i want to think the board of directors, the foundation. jay hsu and your work with the city.

the supervisors, charlotte, the arts commission, and our controller, for coming together at this time to allow our asian to give an even bigger appeal to an international audience. i think you will find this brand not only on the windowsills of this grand all day and the building, a building that i have been familiar with as my days of the dpw director -- i used to go through stacks of books. to see this as part of the great contribution to the revitalization of our civic center, and to be an international destination for so many visitors that come to our city. i want to thank the museum, the asian for allowing us to join you in this 3 branding, and to make sure we are on our way to invite a greater audience to experience all the wonderful cultural things you have to offer. [applause]

>> thank you, mr. mayor. that was fantastic. i was just thinking, i have to update my facebook, i have to tweet this great logo. it is beautiful. thank you. it is such a wonderful day to show this off. i forgot to mention one name. the mayor is really good. my apologies. demint these technology as well steve cava, our chief of staff. thank you for being here. i also wanted knowledge two guests that i did not get to technology earlier. there are so many people. i definitely wanted to mention akiko yamazaki.

she is the president of the -- we also have a strategy director of wolff olins. he is an island in designer. please come up and tell us more about what your involvement was. >> good morning, everybody. speaking of presidents, apparently my daughter things i am the president of asia. a friend of hers said, are you the president of asia? apparently i hold that an important title here. anyhow, i wanted to tell you

that this branding project has been in the making since 2007, so it has been a long pregnancy. it is so great to see this until today. this started as part of our strategic directions plan. of course, in 2008, with the arrival of jay, started developing a new vision which he started to share with us. the branded product has been instrumental for us to not only define how do want to present ourselves externally, but how we want to have a common value internally. what is our common down here as an organization? it has helped us externally and internally. the board has been very active through the marketing committee, being part of the process with the staff's and with the leadership of nick in defining the scale of the project, raising the necessary funds for

it. also, key decision making points such as the visual logo, which you see here today. i have to share a story about the logo. after the meeting when i came home, i had a bunch of different ideas that we had been discussing at home. jerry said to me, do you realize this is the symbol in math for all? apparently he was the only one who had been paying attention in math class. i said, is that true? it just felt right. that is when the going really hit the mark. we thought that this was really the right logo for us. today, i want to again invite everybody to our new asian. we promised it will be all- inclusive plan and offer you something to be awakened and

inspired about. >> thank you. first, it has been a real pleasure and privilege to work with the museum, with such a clear vision, bold vision. it is a dream plan situation for a company like wolff olins to work with the asian art museum. the journey started in january of last year where we did extensive research with the museum. everything from analyzing the visitor journey to understanding macro and museum trends. we did ethnographic research with visitors, lots of insight, but a key foundational inside or that visitors wanted to connect more viscerally with museums and the arts. they are looking for museums to provide a platform for discussion, interaction, for discussion, even as an outlet for creative endeavors.

some of the challenges that will faced museums like the asian is the subject matter is just a bit more difficult for people in the u.s., so the nation has to work harder to provide more context, almost throwing out lifelines to visitors so that they connect with the art and subject matter and interact with it and on the spot from that they grave. that was when this was designed to do. once a visitor connects with the content, it is a lifelong experience. the depth of the experience is such that it really is a lifelong learning experience, pretty amazing and powerful. at the end of the day, it is moving from pure preservation of art to provocation. provoking dialogue, discussion, you are and new thinking.

it has come to life as a visual identity, which we are very excited about but we are more excited about is the experience it will bring about, how to brand the visitor experience. so thank you. [applause] >> thank you, nick, akiko. i knew akiko was the president of art, but she is so more than that. nick, you sort of scare me. you intimidate me. he is tall, a british accent, used math. people like to stress me out. without further ado, i want to invite our director again to explain some of our upcoming

directions. i want to challenge to all, soap ceramics. >> just to follow akiko's interesting example, before i provide you with a preview of one of the exhibitions, art and science has always been together. da vinvi was a great artist but a scientist as well. sometimes, when i speak to people in the valley, i say, when you have a first-rate product, how did you describe it? of course, there are several phrases you could use, but one of which is, state of the art. when you reach such a quality, you can get the expression, but you need art to describe the utmost excellence of what you do.